The U.N. Committee on Enforced Disappearances and the U.N. Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances called for special support for the families of those who have "disappeared both nationally and internationally" Friday, a day declared as "International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances."

The Working Group was established in 1980 by the U.N. Commission on Human Rights to assist families in seeking missing relatives. The International day was proclaimed by the U.N. General Assembly in 2010 to express its concern over the increase in enforced or involuntary disappearances in various parts of the world, the statement said.

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